1. Field
This invention relates to locking systems, particularly those used for gun safes and other types of lightweight safes.
2. Statement of the Art
In the past decade, public awareness of the hazards arising from private gun ownership has increased markedly. As politicians grapple with the issue of ensuring the safety of the public while protecting the constitutionally endowed rights of private gun ownership, individual gun owners have become more aware of the need to safeguard their personal gun collections. One of the more popular approaches adopted by these individuals is the purchase of a lightweight safe designed for storing rifles as well as handguns. These safes at once provide security against criminal activities, e.g. burglary, while at the same time providing a means of precluding access to the weapons by children.
These safes typically assume a substantially box-like appearance having a hinge-mounted, rectangularly shaped door which provides access to the safe's hollow interior. For years, safe manufacturers have relied on a locking mechanism which provides for a series of studs or bolts to be urged outwardly from the four-sided perimeter of the door, into recess wells defined in the door's frame. Various mechanical arrangements have been proposed to effect the actuation of these bolt members.
U.S. Pat. No. 393,883 (Brown) illustrates a safe door adapted with a plurality of stud-fitted yokes positioned about the perimeter of the door. Each yoke includes a shaft which extends towards the center of the door face and is retained for back-and-forth displacement within a series of bracket-like guides. The shafts are interconnected one with another by a pivot mounted linkage assembly. The locking mechanism is actuated by a spring.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,870,746 (Pyle) discloses a safe door wherein a rotatably mounted disc is fitted with a first plurality of pinned outwardly-extending shaft linkages. Two of the linkages are pinned at their opposing ends to a respective second rotatably mounted disc. A second plurality of linkages extend from pinned mountings in the second discs to the perimeter of the door. Each of the linkages in the second plurality of linkages is fitted at its free end with a stud adapted for insertion into a frame defined recess well. Additionally, one of the first linkages is also adapted at its free end with a stud adapted for insertion into a frame defined recess well.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,929,341 (Wegner) describes a locking mechanism adapted for use in closing a burial vault. In this construction, a disc, centrally positioned and rotatably mounted on the vault door, is fitted with a plurality of outwardly extending shafts. Each shaft is fitted on its free end with a yoke fitted with a plurality of outwardly extending studs or legs adapted for cooperating with structure defined on the main body of the vault for effecting a unison of the door with the vault body.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,823,536 (Watson) discloses a safe door mechanism which utilizes two spacedly positioned discs rotatably mounted on as safe door. Each disc is fitted with two pinned shafts which extend outwardly to the door's perimeter and are adapted at their ends to be received within frame defined recess wells to form a secured union of the door with the safe door frame.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,860,584 (Deaton et al.) discloses a bolt and lock construction adapted for use with vault doors.